Of schools that provided federal loans in every year since 1994-95, approximately 1,200 postsecondary schools—or 29 percent—have provided loans through the Direct Loan Program, and most continued to participate in school year 2001-02. The Direct Loan Program’s share of total new loan volume has steadily decreased from its peak of 34 percent in 1998-99 to 28 percent in 2001-02, and the number of schools that have joined the program is much smaller than the number of school that have stopped participating. Four factors—(1) streamlined loan delivery, (2) greater control over loan processes, (3) timely delivery of money to students, and (4) ease of tracking loans over time—were extremely or.
